Military Religious Freedom and Christian Service

Tag Archives: Religion

Air Force Reserve Command is reviewing a public affairs news release after Michael “Mikey” Weinstein called it

a “shameless and incredibly prominent and public promotion” of religion…

The article is not unlike many that the Air Force produces highlighting the humanitarian or other off-duty activities of its Airmen. In this case, the story is about SMSgt Larry Gallo and his family, who dedicate their Christmas each year to providing “medical and spiritual aid” in other countries:

“Seven years ago my family and I started giving up our commercial Christmases to do something different, since then, we never looked back,” Gallo said. “These trips allow everyone to slow down and realize that some of the stress we put on ourselves is uncalled for once we put things in perspective.

“We have so much in the United States, and we are blessed as a nation. There is no guilt in being blessed. The guilt comes when we complain and grumble and take for granted the things we do have and not use those blessings to help others who are burdened.”

Filled with innuendo and double entendre, the Onion-worthy piece highlights the persecution of cadets who fail to share the religion of the crane:

Cadets who will not embrace “Our Lord, the Crane” have found themselves increasingly marginalized and excluded from Wing activities:

“I have truly felt the soft, inconsequential blow of cadet discrimination. Last Thursday I tried to AMI a room in Sijan and was told to get out on account of my non-belief in our Lord and Savior the Crane. Over Continue reading →

Trotter said often what is required from army chaplains is their physical presence.

“The soldiers want their chaplain to be with them in the field,” Trotter said. “They want them to be jumping from the same airplane, to be out in the field, and to experience the same life they have. When they see that, they can say ‘this guy or gal is one of us and I can relate to them.'”

In what has become standard practice for atheists trying to inflate their numbers, the Freedom From Religion Foundation ran an ad in USA Today’s Year in Defense claiming nearly a quarter of the US military is “not religious” [emphasis added]:

Proselytizing officers got you down? Annoyed by preaching chaplain emails? Frustrated by prayer at mandatory events? Tripping over bibles with every about face? If you’re one of the 23.4%* of the U.S. military who is not religious, join the ranks of America’s largest non-prophet nonprofit…

As previously noted, atheists who take pride in their “skepticism” and reliance upon demonstrable data over mere belief have been very quick to express their belief in the report from the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers that initiated the 23.4% number — despite the fact the data does not support the conclusion.

A US Army recruiting post in Phoenix, Arizona, removed a sign with “On a mission for God and country” tag line after a media inquiry.

The poster, which features a Special Forces patch along with Ranger, Airborne and Special Forces tabs, includes “a stock image” the command makes available for local recruiters, spokesman Brian Lepley said in an email, “but the text was changed by the local recruiting personnel” and not cleared by command headquarters.

That’s really about it. The poster could have said “For Mom and Apple Pie” and also would have been removed if the customized official sign had not gone through the proper approval process.

According to Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, though, the US Army was caught in an open attempt to recruit Christians to violently take over the country. Seriously. In response to the poster, Weinstein says:

[T]here exists a brutal, sectarian, Christian fundamentalist reign exercised within the United States Armed Forces, constituting a de facto Dominionist fifth column. In fact, it’s often so brazen that it’s not even very “fifth columny” anymore.

Chaplain (Cmdr) Timothy Moore and Chief Aviation Ordnanceman James A. Henry baptize one of 27 Sailors and Marines, Nov. 21, in the well deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) in the Gulf of Aden as it connects to the Red Sea.

These Sailors and Marines specifically wanted to be baptized in the Red Sea, for obvious reasons, and their chaplain and crew obliged.

Hundreds of Marines and Sailors singing Amazing Grace and being baptized in the waters of the Middle East? Who would have thought?

Each year since 1993 the President has declared January 16th to be “Religious Freedom Day,” in order to remember the passage of Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. President Obama has not yet issued his proclamation this year but will likely do so today.

Jefferson’s statute continues to be a strong expression for the value of religious liberty even today. Though the statute has been discussed in many places and in great depth, there are two important points to take from the statute. First, Continue reading →

An interesting study from Kansas State University, as reported at the Oregonian:

Christian employees who talk about their religious beliefs at work are happier on the job than those who keep quiet…

The reasoning may surprise you:

“For many people, religion is the core of their lives,” co-author Sooyeol Kim said in a press release from Kansas State University. “When you try to hide your identity, you have to pretend or you have to lie to others, which can be stressful and negatively impact how you build relationships with co-workers.”

Having to “live a lie” would negatively affect the mission. Where has that argument been used before?

It would seem that, based on this study, military readiness would improve with official policies encouraging and protecting religious expression. Who would have thought it?

After decades of efforts, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Kapaun posthumously in April 2013.

“This is the valor we honor today,” President Barack Obama said during the award ceremony, “an American soldier who didn’t fire a gun, but who wielded the mightiest weapon of all: a love for his brothers so pure that he is willing to die so that they might live.”

To think, some atheists claim there are no chaplains on the front lines in the US military…

We are now witnessing a direct and unavoidable collision between religious liberty with what is rightly defined as erotic liberty — a liberty claimed on the basis of sexual identity and activity. Religious liberty is officially recognized in the Bill of Rights — even in the very first amendment — and the framers of the American order did not claim to have established this right to free religious expression, but to have recognized it as a pre-existent right basic to citizenship.

Erotic liberty is new on the scene, but it is central to the moral project of modernity — a project that asserts erotic liberty, which the framers never imagined, as an even more fundamental liberty than freedom of religion.

Despite the fact only the expression of his beliefs got him fired, Atlanta council member Alex Wan — who is homosexual — said he

support[ed] Cochran’s termination and said it “sends a strong message to employees about how much we value diversity and how we adhere to a non-discriminatory environment.”

So, a person who was not discriminating against anyone was discriminated against in order to provide a non-discriminatory environment? One wonders if councilman Wan knows what the word “discrimination” really means.

stated, or quite deliberately inferred that Mr. Weinstein did not work in the Reagan White House, that the examples of anti-Semitic emails…were somehow fabricated and that his salary with the Foundation has somehow been set in contravention of appropriate legal guidelines.

Weinstein’s argument falls flat right out of the gate.

First, Stricherz didn’t state or infer Weinstein didn’t work at the White House. He examined the strength of Weinstein’s own claims about what he did at the White House, citing a former legal counsel in the White House who said Continue reading →